


Untitled (music meme)

by Sabriel_Azalee



Category: Half-Life, Portal (Video Game)
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Gen, Inspired by Music, Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-27
Updated: 2013-03-27
Packaged: 2017-12-06 15:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/737403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sabriel_Azalee/pseuds/Sabriel_Azalee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a music fic meme floating around online at some point. The gist of it was that you had the entirety of a song to write a short drabble based on said music. I really enjoyed the idea, and ran with it. </p><p>This is a collection of drabbles, then, with the Chapter Titles as the songs I wrote to. Chell/Wheatley related. Consider it to be a sequel of sorts to End of Innocence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Courtesy Call

Her eyes shot open. She heard the pounding, of course, but couldn't, for the life of her, recognize the voice. Where was she? What was happening?

"Hello?"

Groggily, she stumbled out of bed - hardly a graceful way of doing so, but she attributed it to her feet feeling as if they were made of lead - and made her way over to the door, one hand sliding across the wall for a moment until she had her balance again.

'Could you open up, please?"

... A human voice?

Excited, she gathered her strength and pulled the door open-

"AHH!"

Wordlessly, she jumped back, and everything flooded back to her.

She didn't escape.

She didn't even come _close_.


	2. HIM - Drunk on Shadows

Wheatley had darted off to find the right way to go - for someone (some **thing** , she had to keep reminding herself) who worked in Aperture, he certainly didn't know much about this facility. She almost swore that she had a better understanding of the place than he did.

It was dark, and for a moment, she paused, looking for her way. Only the dim red lights ahead of her gave her any indication of where to go next.

As she pressed on, she caught a glimpse of her own shadow, and stopped, staring at the faint image on the wall.

Sometimes, it was all that reminded her of her humanity.


	3. Distorted Memory - Nomads

They flew down the transport chute together; him having a blast, and her clasping a hand over her mouth ready to scream (or throw up) at any moment.

More likely, both.

Wheatley certainly enjoyed the ride, though. At one point, her turned to her, and she could have sworn that she heard a small 'thank you, love' underneath all of his excited babbling.

Or that could have just been the rush of blood in her ears.


	4. VNV Nation - The Farthest Star

"You don't have to leave just _yet_ , do you?"

Chell pressed her hand against the glass of the elevator, nodding rather insistently. Yes, yes she did. Now was, in fact, a great time to leave.

But the elevator began to slide down, and her eyes widened. As he spoke, she shook her head, beating her free hand against the study glass furiously, blinking back her tears, her anger.

He couldn't- he wasn't like-

The one thing she had faith in was shattered forever. Everything fell apart.


	5. VNV Nation - Voice

He wouldn't shut up, and she wasn't in any real mood to listen.

Speaking, forever speaking, speaking half-truths at best and outright lies at his worst, blaming her for everything that could have possibly gone wrong in this place.

Another portal was placed, and whatever gods left in this world must have been watching her (finally), as another of his bombs fell squarely on him. And as she shot a portal up to the catwalk, another voice chimed in; one which, if you would have told her she'd be cooperating with ever, she would have laughed.

All of these voices surrounding her, egging her on, teasing her, encouraging her, hating her, loving her.

And none of them worth replying to.


	6. Rage Against the Machine - Clear the Lane

No matter where she went, it always seemed like Chell had to fight her way out of a situation. 

She encountered a small abandoned town, and was looking around for something to eat. Her stomach could be heard for miles, and that's very likely what gave her away.

Bullets flew over her head, and she ducked, instinctively rolling away as she pressed into the closest wall to her. A few mechanical voices - more goddamn robots, likely. She balled her fists together, narrowed her eyes, and waited.

The footsteps moved closer, and she sprung up, giving one of them a solid kick in the stomach. As it toppled over, she grabbed its gun as it dropped to the ground, pointing it towards another as she took her shot. The second cried out, and fell, but she didn't wait, turning the weapon quickly towards the first, aiming at its head.

When she finally paused to catch her breath, she looked down at her assailants, raising an eyebrow.

They weren't robots at all, from what she could tell. But the gas masks looked like nothing Aperture ever built.


	7. VNV Nation - Momentum

"Wait - love, wait - just give me a chance to explain-!"

Chell ran.

She didn't know why she thought going back to Aperture was a good idea. Maybe she really _did_ have brain damage. She considered having one of the medics look into that when she got back to town.

That last thing she expected to see was a tall, gangly looking man by the shed, curled next to it in a twitchy sleep. She had assumed it was another poor bastard that Aperture kept in its clutches, and she had gently touched his shoulder to wake him up.

To be fair, she wasn't entirely incorrect.

"Just wait-!"

Chell leapt over a small hill which would, eventually, lead back to her small town, using the force and momentum of her speed to push herself as far away from this... whatever the hell he was as soon as she could. He was tall, but certainly not fast, and as she cautiously looked back, she saw that he was slowing down, hand outstretched to her, yelling something in her direction.

At the bottom of the hill, she skidded down, fists trembling as she caught herself. She quickly turned, looking up at him, and narrowed her eyes, as if daring him to follow.

He was still, and continued to shout something (nothing she could make out) at her.

So she ran.


	8. Rage Against the Machine - Township Rebellion

Chell had to admit that she was surprised. Wheatley proved himself to be quite a sturdy hand with mechanics after all - once he learned that 'hacking' didn't consist of punching things until his hands bled, anyway. And today, every hand counted.

The Combine were attacking.

Taking point, Chell ran ahead, quickly observing the scene in front of her. One dropship - curious, but not entirely unheard of. A few Combine spilled out, forming a rather loose formation together. She smirked, and cocked her gun; the feeling of the old shotgun in her hands brought her a great deal of comfort.

She made a small circular motion with her hand, and a few of the Rebels nodded, quietly scuttling away to other sections of the building as they took their positions. They had practiced this for a long while, and Chell was confident that they'd pull this off.

She glanced up towards the building to her right, and spied Wheatley nervously looking at her. She gave him a thumbs up, nodding once. He smiled widely then, returning the signal, but she could tell that his hands were shaking.

And the first shot rang out.


	9. VNV Nation - Goodbye 20th Century

It disturbed Chell to realize just how much sheer time she'd lost. She promised herself that she would learn what, exactly, happened to her word, if she ever left Aperture. And now that she had that opportunity, she realized just how difficult getting the whole story would be. Whatever it was, she could honestly say that she certainly wasn't expecting this.

The Rebels moved from place to place, occasionally settling down when it seemed like the Combine threat was significantly lessened. But they never seemed to stumble on any important places of note - to Chell, that meant anything which she could learn from. Stories and accounts of the Seven Hour War and the Black Mesa Incident aside, it simply wasn't enough to explain everything that happened.

Then, one day, they hit the jackpot.

Well, that wasn't entirely fair. Wheatley spotted the building first, during one shared patrol night. Try as she might, Chell just couldn't shake him, and he seemed rather insistent on staying by her side. Her hesitance eventually gave way to tolerance, however, and these days... well. She couldn't see herself without him.

And when they found the library he pointed out along their travels, they both took the opportunity to learn about their new world, together.


	10. The Victims of Science - The Device Has Been Modified

Those bullets should have killed her. The shell to the head should have killed him.

The fact that they both still drew breath indicated to her that something was very, very wrong.

As Wheatley sat up, holding his head in his hands - the poor bastard didn't even realize that he was shot, which was enough to shake Chell to her core - she noticed that his head was... changing. Shifting.

His skull was repairing itself before her eyes.

She looked down, and noticed that her left breast was doing the same.

She screamed.

And somewhere, thousands of miles away, a supercomputer chuckled to itself.


	11. Epilogue: VNV Nation - Streamline

The sun rose, and up with it was Chell, stretching. It was hard to sleep sometimes - the nightmares were the worst of it - but they were lessening, these days.

There was a yawn to her left, and she chuckled to herself before turning to face the body next to her. He really did sleep like a baby, didn't he?

She leaned over, running a hand through his hair, and smiled. A year was such a small amount of time. It was amazing to her to see just how much had changed in her life, since waking up in that broken down chamber so long ago.

"Mornin', love," he whispered, scooting closer to her, a long arm stretching around her waist to draw her close. She laughed, and leaned down, and kissed the top of his head.

"Good morning," she said, and kept her lips pressed against his hair.

_end_


End file.
